Creative Sparkle

The Blue Afternoon by William Boyd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have been a loyal reader of William Boyd since A Good Man in Africa, his wonderful debut novel, published more years ago than I care to remember. On the frequent occasions I am asked to list authors whom I admire, William Boyd's name will invariably feature in my answer. I will often add that what I admire most about him is his chameleon ability to occupy any territory - emotional and physical - with complete authenticity. Whereas most writers find a style and stick with it (glad to have found what works!) Boyd has always struck me as fearlessly willing to launch himself into different writing guises, so that on opening each new novel one has no idea even whether the narrative voice is male or female, let alone what sort of capers he/she might be getting up to, or in what part of the world.

'Blue Afternoon' had somehow slipped through my net. Seeing that it was published in the early nineties, when I had two toddlers to look after, as well novels of my own to write, probably explains why. So, stumbling on a copy in a bookshop in Winchester a couple of months ago, was like finding a present one had failed to unwrap at Christmas! Such an unexpected treat!

And a treat it certainly was, particularly as I had forgotten quite how sparkling and funny early Boyd could be. The main character, Dr Salvador Carriscant, a genius of a pioneering surgeon based in Manila at the turn of the century, is a sheer joy. For all his professional skills, he has a chaotic private life that spirals out of control when he falls hopelessly in love with a married woman. But there was real darkness and suspense in the plot too, all of it rooted in vividly depicted accounts of the terrible butchery a surgeon could get away with a hundred years ago.

As ever, plot spoilers are not my bag, but for me this was a page-turner, with the added blaze of a powerful love story. So much so, that I found myself thinking later Boyd has got a bit dry and polished - lost a little something perhaps from the energy and inspiration of his creative youth.




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